The Minister of Culture Rachida Dati hoped Monday in Paris that a “place” dedicated to “great athletes from immigrant backgrounds” could see the light of day within the National Museum of the History of Immigration located in the capital .
“At the Porte Dorée Immigration Museum, one day we will perhaps be interested in having a place showing the link between immigration and sport, (dedicated to) all these great sportsmen from the immigration which have brought to the prestige, influence and greatness of France,” declared the minister during a press conference presenting the artistic projects dedicated to the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris.
She hoped that the Olympic Games, “exceptional events for our country” this summer, could “irrigate all territories, for programming as close as possible to citizens”.
“In these fractured moments, it is important that sport and culture come together,” to leave “a lasting material legacy of course, but also immaterial,” she said.
Asked about the budget of these projects called “cultural Olympics”, Dominique Hervieu, the cultural director of Paris 2024, put it at 12.2 million euros for the organizing committee of the Olympic Games (Cojo).
Added to this are “around twenty million euros” from the Ministry of Culture, at this stage, according to François Laurent, his Olympic delegate, including 9 million euros dedicated to “projects mainly in the territories” and the rest in additional credits (ministry operators and Drac).
The budget of the City of Paris is 8.5 million euros “to date”, that of the Region is around 3 million and that of the department of Seine-Saint-Denis is 2 million, according to their representatives, present at the press conference.
The Cultural Olympiads include more than 2,000 artistic projects (works of art, dance, music, circus projects, fashion, theater, etc.) in mainland France and in the overseas territories.